I had a little Beetle, so that Beetle was his name
And I called him Alexander and he answered just the same
And I put him in a matchbox and I kept him all the day
But Nanny let my Beetle out, Nanny let my Beetle out
She went and let my Beetle out, and Beetle ran away
She said she didn't mean it and I never said she did
She said she wanted matches and she just took off the lid
She said I mustn't worry and I really mustn't mind
That there's lots and lots of beetles that she's certain we could find
She said I mustn't worry, but it's difficult to catch
An excited sort of beetle you've mistaken for a match
If we looked in all the places that a beetle might be near
And we made the kind of noises that a beetle likes to hear
And I heard a kind of something and I gave a sort of shout
It was a beetle house and Alexander Beetle coming out
It was Alexander Beetle, I'm as certain as can be
And he had a kind of look as though he thought it might be me
And he had a kind of look as though he thought he ought to say
I'm really very sorry that I tried to run away
And Nanny's very sorry too, 'cause you know what she did
She's writing Alexander very blackly on the lid
So Nan and me are friends because it's difficult to catch
An excited sort of beetle you've mistaken for a match
